Did you put in nice new pinballs in? Didn't use the ones Stern provided did you? If so I suggest buying some new quality pinballs and putting them in there.

Stern installs terrible quality balls in their new games. Did you replace them?

Get some good new Carbon Core balls; don't use the ones that came with the game.

Yep, I've seen others with many more scratches on a brand new game. The balls are junk. I've never seem this happen on a Bally/Williams/Data East/Sega classic. Gotta love that Stern quality!

Keep your game waxed and check your pinballs regularly to make sure they don't have any nicks in them. That's essentially how a playfield would get damaged.

I'm guessing your game is fine and this is somewhat normal. You're probably just catching the light at a certain angle and it's reflecting off the clear and showing scratches. If this was in different lighting or an arcade you would never notice.

Do you have some pictures of it?

Buy premium pinballs from Pinball Life. They are $1.50. Inspect them, because sometimes they aren't perfect when you get them.

I've never bought a new Stern...so I can't chime in on their ball quality.

The balls that cam with my MMr looked as though they already had at least 100 plays on them....they were really beat to sh!t.

Needless to say, I installed new shiny balls from PBL.

I have.

Krusty.jpg

Agreed. I couldn't believe how bad the balls were that came with a NIB MET. I figured I'd use the buffer on them and be set, but I took one look at them and threw them away.

Otherwise, my MET came with a couple small playfield scratches from the factory.

Its kinda normal- very fine scratches are going to result from playing a game (this is somewhat controllable). You will also start to see dimpling (tiny, small divots) this is also normal (not controllable). You will notice this stuff a lot early, then as you play it more the defects will accumulate to the point that you no longer notice them- its almost like the game will start looking pristine, go through a period where it will annoy you and then with enough play it will end up looking better again. There are a number of threads that discuss (overly IMHO) this observation and new games. If you deeply care, look them up (I don't recall, but search dimpling, scratches, new games etc) and you too can waste days reading about this....

Totally understand the question, just remember, you have a piece of wood (soft compared to a steel ball) covered by a thin layer of clear and the ball is going to bounce and drag across the surface. If it bounces it will dimple the wood, if it drags it can scratch the top clear...

IMHO you have some control over the scratching by using wax and fresh high quality pinballs. The dimpling is physics, wood is softer than steel, nothing you or anyone else can do to fix that. Play- enjoy, repeat...

You have a great game!

You should wax your game the moment you get it.

The wax will help protect the playfield from scratches.

Examine your balls carefully, you may have a nick in one of them.

Get new balls (always buy some extra to replace nicked ones a few times a year), get a coat of wax on that thing.

What distributor did you buy your game from?

Sure beats a bad case of elephantitis.

Normal to see these scratches on nib Sterns from what i have seen especially if your playfield is directly under a light and you are viewing it at the right angle, some NIB pins from Stern seem worse then otheres, but they all have them. I wouldn't examine it too much otherwise you might notice other "defects" such a slightly duller areas in the clear which seems common with Stern pins as of late

Well this isn't like a video game. This is a physical ball bashing into plastic, metal, and wooden parts. There's gonna be some wear. It's just a question of how much you want to slow down the wear. Wax helps protect the playfield. Does the manual say to wax the playfield? Surely it does. Did you read the manual?

When you buy a new car, do you have to wax it , even though it looks shiny?

Do you have to rub the leather seats with Mink Oil even though it looks supple?

Do you put a full size tire on the spare rim, even though it came with a shitty little doughnut?

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If you are lucky enough to afford a brand new expensive toy, the least you can do is take care of it, lol.....

If you are familiar with car detailing, then you know there are no scratches that exist only in the wax layer.

Enjoy your game. If you're incredibly concerned about this, but a spare playfield from Stern now, have it re-cleared and stash it away.

Same for a pinball. You do not need to take care of it. But if you want it to keep it's worth you should. Owning a pinball machine is lot more work than playing one on location. I'm learning that as well. They are easy to buy but a person should understand there is maintenance with rubbers and light bulbs to replace and wax and cleaning involved.

Are there pics of these scratches? Everyone keeps talking about them being normal so I'm guessing there was a picture that was removed as you wouldn't know if your scratches are normal or not without that. You will get scratches in your PF and waxing will help prevent and cover them up. Dimpling should be much more noticeable though than scratches after a couple of plays. Dimpling is also 100% normal.

Since you are familiar with car detailing. The "normal" scratches for a game out of the box with a handful of plays on it will look to be the same size/depth and texture of swirl marks. While not in a swirl they would resemble them in look and texture. Those are normal. Outside of that, it may be abnormal.

Fine scratches in the clear coat are totally normal, as are small dimples from ball impacts. These scratches will come right out with an occasional Novus 2 polishing. Follow that with a carnuba wax application. Use good quality pinballs. Install Clify protectors. That's all you need to do to keep your playfield in excellent shape.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cleaning-and-waxing-pinball-machines-vids-guide

Next time you are looking for a pin check out prices to compare from JJ (GameExchange) and Trent (Tilt Amusements)

There is another couple good guys off the top of my head......Mike in Massachusetts (whats his username? Has a HULK avatar? Anyone?), I forget his company name as Ive never bought from him, also Greg from Pinball Pro http://pinballpro.net

Might save you a bundle of cash, I don't know what you bought yours for but these guys usually have lower pricing. Automated isn't loved too much around here. Comes on and spams the FS forum with overpriced pins.

Did you check out Vid's guide? It can answer a lot of questions.